How to Stage Your Home For Sale
Last spring, I helped a friend stage their home before they put it up for sale. It was something I had always wanted to try, but was definitely an amateur heading into the project. I learned a lot, taught myself a lot, and reaffirmed some things I already knew. From that experience comes this post. Maybe it will help you stage your home for sale!
STEP 1: DE-CLUTTER
The first step to staging your home is to remove all clutter. Clutter is defined by anything that has not been used in six months, something you have numerous items of, or something that detracts from the actual features of your home. If any of these apply to something you are debating storing away, DITCH IT. Rent a storage garage and move your clutter out. Those toys your kids sprawl all over the house? Move at least half of them out. That blender you use occasionally? Move it out. Those personal pictures adorning every wall? Move them out.
STEP 2: CLEAN
I don’t just mean spring clean. I mean, take a toothbrush to every nook and cranny in your home. Clean your baseboards, wash your walls, scrub the inside of your cabinets, vacuum out your vents, wipe the window sills, clean until you drop. If your house that has been lived in is going against houses that have just been built (which I guarantee your buyers are looking at both), even after all that cleaning, your house still won’t be as clean as new. However, it will at least stand a chance.
Just a simple cleaning did the trick.
STEP 3: ORGANIZE
Hopefully you’ve already removed all clutter from your closets (including half your clothes). Now organize the insides of every closet and cupboard in your home. If it’s not organized, your buyers will think you don’t have enough storage. Fold the towels in your linen closet and hang the coats in your entry two inches apart. You should open the closet or cupboard and think, “Wow it’s barely full and everything has a place.”
I staged my daughter’s closet for an example. Find out how to make those green organizers for next to nothing.
STEP 4: NEUTRALIZE
You want to use a neutral color palette when staging a house, we all know this. But think further to your audience and what buyer you are marketing to. Now-a-days, outdated wood stain alienates young buyers as much as hot pink walls. Unless your wood is stained the color of the moment (I think espresso is still in), opt for a neutral like white or light gray. In this house, the most likely buyer was a young family buying a “starter home.” The walls were painted gray and the cabinets white to neutralize and help the small kitchen feel larger. The appliances also blend in more making the room more cohesive. Neutralizing also means removing anything in your home that is personal or geared towards a specific taste. Ten cat statues next to a pic of your dear granny? Not going to sell your home.
STEP 5: ACCENTUATE
Accentuating your home’s features is key. Fill holes in the walls and give the whole house a fresh coat of paint (or touch up if you don’t have enough left). Open all the blinds and drapes to show off the windows and let light pour into the space. Remove anything blocking a showpiece. Got a fireplace? Put a colorful vase on the mantel to draw attention and move furniture away from it. Got hardwoods throughout? Limit rugs and anything else you cover the floor with and keep them spotless. Got a walkout patio? Be sure nothing obstructs the glass doors and they are completely smudge free. Think about what features in your home are unique to give it style and then show them off!
STEP 6: FLOW
Sometimes furniture placement can make all the difference. You don’t want furniture to bar any walking path from room to room. You don’t want furniture to be too large that it stops the eye from flowing across the visual plane of a space. You don’t want the first thing you see when you enter a bedroom to be a television, it should be the bed. Furniture should be arranged functionally, fit to scale, and logical for the space. No drum sets in the dining room.
Before, you walked into the home to greet a piano. Now, you walk into an open space where your eye looks at a reception table and possibly wanders through the living room to the adjoining spaces.
STEP 7: RECLAIM
Reclaim those spaces in your home that don’t quite fulfill their purpose because you needed them for something else. Got a bedroom that is functioning as a gym? Turn it back into a bedroom. In this case, the bathroom was functioning as a closet. Reclaim your home to what it was meant to be, because YOU WON’T LIVE THERE ANYMORE.
Staging my friend’s house cost almost nothing but time. It took me three weeks to complete this project (painting kitchen cabinets is not a quick task) and almost everything was reused and re-imagined from other spaces in the house. The only purchases made were new cabinet handles for the kitchen and spray paint for the hinges. Other paint used was free from the local household hazardous waste facility. This entire staging took three weeks of time, but less than $50 in cost.
I hope this step by step process helps you stage your home some day. It is so worth the time and effort.
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